Haida panel pipe, nineteenth century.
A few days ago I featured photographs of a stunning 19th century Haida argillite pipe for sale at a UK web site. They have a second pipe for sale, a more complex design but in poorer condition. The photos are similarly revealing of carving strokes and rock grain; even more so in some ways as this piece appears to be unfinished. The design is complex focusing on Raven and Bear (not the Frog as the description below says, I don’t think), but it is not for me to try to decode the story being told.
The description is given as follows:
19thC. HAIDA ARGILLITE PIPE PANEL. #asc004 #asc004
Probably from the Raven Tribe, the panel carved with various mythological figures including a raven, a man, a frog and the thunder bird, this is possibly part of a larger panel and the top has been slightly filed flat for mounting on a stand, (not photographed). Overall 13.5cm.
From the Haida tribes of the Northwest Pacific Coast of British Columbia and Queen Charlotte Island
£2,500.00
Again, for posterity, here are nine views of this pipe: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. As I noted before, while not as sharp as the other set, these photographs surpass most of what one finds on many, many museum sites, where the rule seems to be: offer a single view of an object, offer it at low resolution, do not allow direct hyperlinks to the file, and break the URL as soon as possible.
Front view of panel pipe.
Top view of pipe.
Northwest Coast Archaeology 
